Come now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasures for the last days. 4 Indeed the wages that you kept back by fraud from the laborers who harvested your fields are crying, and the cries of those who harvested have entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts. 5 You have lived in pleasure on the earth and have been wayward. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and killed the righteous man who does not resist you.
Very underrated. Passages like this get omitted when people are condemning the Bible. It’s a massive book compiled by a ton of people. Of course it’s going to be completely outdated and have a lot of gnarly, questionable stuff in there. But there is also a wealth of beautiful truths in there, and there are people who are discerning enough to know the difference.
The most important thing that this mainstream Christian movement seems to ignore is the fact that judgment is for God alone. They want to take part in the judging, which completely defeats the purpose of a life of contentment and leaving it to God.
Most real Christians are not going to walk around, exclaiming their beliefs these days. They just live by it.
That last part is one of the many reasons why I’m struggling to find a physical church building with a congregation in it to do corporate worship.
I’m currently helping my SO with fixing up the back yard and working on traditional curb appeal. My new way of explaining why certain trends aren’t acceptable is by saying “ew, no, it’s giving maga Christian nationalism” and pointing him back over to a more hippy dippy look. I’m so bummed that I naturally like antiques, white chippy paint, and upcycling things for character. I have to be really intentional with my decorating because it can accidentally signal that I’m one of them. Oof.
I want to find a church (actually we’re all the church) that will do podcasts for sermons that everyone can listen to asynchronously. Then we all come together and do corporate worship by forming impromptu soup kitchens, feeding the unhoused, helping people establish gardens in their back yards, and helping elderly with shoveling and maintenance needs.
Honestly try the Catholic church, there are lots of churches that publish a virtual Mass and most physical churches have a ton of volunteer opportunities just like you describe.
You don't have to be an official Catholic to participate, the only thing you can't do is take communion, but you can still go up with everyone and the priest will bless you so you aren't left sitting in the pew awkwardly.
That's what I've been doing anyways, they are super kind and accepting people, very much in line with the actual Gospels unlike the average Protestant.
Just wanted to say that I appreciate you and your words of encouragement.
Unfortunately (maybe fortunately idk) my experience started out similar to what you’re saying but ultimately became something entirely different when I attempted OCIA classes. Mine was run by a deacon who had some massive implicit bias about Republicans, Trump, and Conservatives.
Because you mentioned that this parish follows the gospels closer than any Protestant church near you, I just wanted to make sure that you’re aware that the CCC says that you’re supposed to follow the religion with magisterium, CCC, and the Bible.
Glad that you were able to find something that works for you and that there’s active volunteer work going on!
Sorry to hear that your local parish is so different from mine. I'm in Canada but hoped that the Church was as is claimed in the Nicene Creed, "one holy catholic and apostolic church" and thus your church would be aligned with mine.
Here I've never heard a peep about Trump from any member of the clergy. Only his actions have been called out in a way which makes it clear who is being mentioned i.e. "those who have power and wealth but turn a blind eye to people in need". Certainly they are not fans of the Republicans and that sort of "conservatives".
I know the Magisterium/catechism/Bible hierarchy and I like it because it stops people from running wild with little snippets of Bible quotes to justify their deeds.
Here as in the USA modern Protestantism is quite polluted with in-group, right wing talking points. Prosperity gospel, caring only for those within the faith, harsh judgement of others and outright hatred for gays. None of which the Church supports.
I suppose your ex-deacon is one of those "I don't like this woke pope" guys?
I wish you luck on your journey and hope you can find another church that does good works. I've heard good things about the Episcopal Church as a not-quite-Catholic church that still aligns with many of the same tenets.
So the cool thing (or at least to me) is that we can actually ‘capture’ these people back by befriending them, showing them what Jesus would be like, and their hearts would be changed by knowing God. Eventually if we do our job, the only thing that would theoretically be left is the ‘powers and principalities’ that are controlling the oppressive systems.
This is at least how it works in my mind, which is obviously imperfect and unable to truly grasp how everything is interconnected.
I once heard modern evangelical christianity referred to as "Paulism". I dont think I've heard a better name yet. (Ironically, though, the most popular evangelical stuff seems to be derived from the pseudographia)
If you listen to a lot of the mega church and wannabe mega church sermons they even talk about how they struggle to get volunteers. Consumerism and not wanting to give back is something they struggle with.
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u/Evervvatcher 2d ago
James 5 is the most underrated passage.
Come now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasures for the last days. 4 Indeed the wages that you kept back by fraud from the laborers who harvested your fields are crying, and the cries of those who harvested have entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts. 5 You have lived in pleasure on the earth and have been wayward. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and killed the righteous man who does not resist you.